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12:50
From: You Missed This
Read This Entry & More At You Missed This
The genesis of all head and no light at the PNU-ODM mediation talks can be squared traced to our past that is replete with political dishonesty. No deal will be binding unless it is felt watertight, structured and documented in front of the whole world.
Our Nobel Laureate Wangari Maathai saw it coming long time ago. Politicians all over the world make deals to survive. But trashing all your agreements once in power is the height of costly expediency. Now we are all roped in this ugly journey to political abyss.
Proclaiming sanctity to Kenya’s tattered constitution is to continue the destructive bumpy ride along the deceptive path. You cannot partially acknowledge a crisis and premise your pledge to resolve it on the same empty edifice you abused to cause the crisis in the first place. There are no half measures here and time is of essence too. Human patience is no elastic and Kenyans are threatening to snap soon.
You can't rule unwilling people
You cannot fool a country and the world all the time. Kibaki’s buying of time will be very costly to all Kenyans in the long run. In the minds of his handlers he has succeeded in weathering the global pressure and can now revert to old and time tested Kenyan gimmicks of grandstanding and brinkmanship.
Tomorrow AU boss Jean Ping is coming to town. You see, the world is not giving up on Kenya. Not just yet. Collaterally we must not abuse nor betray their efforts by trivializing their concern as patronage. Our immediate neighbours have left us to stew in our own oil thanks to our cheap brand of capitalism doled in primitive material accumulation.
You CANNOT rule an unwilling population. Not not in the 21st Century, never. Kibaki must move in haste to politically resolve the present crisis. Failing which even him he will not be spared the resulting devastation. Time is running out and Kenyans’ patience is no rubber band. We cannot lose our beautiful country to a bunch of old tribalists. The inhent class war is only secondary.
The embers are menacing glancing at the Kenyan fabric. The inferno is eminent and it is not a matter of IF but WHEN to implode. We want our country back NOW. And that is no just a wish. It is a right for which more than 1000 Kenyans have already lost their lives for. Enough is enough. No more red herrings and splitting of hairs please.
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9:31
From: You Missed This
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Anxiety and political tension grip Kenya The ODM is reportedly threatening to relaunch mass protests if the Annan talks do not break the political deadlock. This is what they are saying. What are they (strategically) planning? Both the PNU and ODM have announced their official positions on power sharing but the difference is a stark as day and night. While the ODM supports a grand coalition power sharing plans that will create the post of a Prime Minister with Executive powers as Head of Government and Kibaki as Head of State, the PNU is hiding behind the current colonial treaty constitution (which PNU ironically agrees is long overdue for comprehensive reform) by saying Kibaki is "willing to work together and share responsibilities in government" with ODM, and that any deal "must be in tandem with the current Kenyan constitution". Can someone tell me what it means to share responsibilities in state governance? The country is getting anxious and tension is building as signs of failure are beginning to dawn on citizens. Sensing ‘victory’ over the mighty USA and EU, PNU MPs are telling-off anyone who dares to offer advise of the way forward. One only needs to listen to FM call-in programs to gauge the mood of the nation and what the people want. Even as their party threatens mass action, ODM MPs are said to be seriously looking at pursuing a secession agenda. Some MPs have been overheard saying that ODM can ‘comfortably’ reduce Central Province to an (isolated) country like Lesotho. Lesotho is wholly surrounded by South Africa and economically integrated with it as well. Its geographical position makes it extremely vulnerable to political and economic developments in South Africa. Would central province be prosperous in similar circumstances if a New Kenya was to secede? President Bush recent utterances leave little doubt that Kenya will be allowed to degenerate into another African failed state. News from the countryside indicates militia are re-arming. But then like Wetangula says: “Putting a gun on PNU’s head and saying 'either or' will be a making a big mistake”. All I can say is: We shall see. Related posts: The Unanimous Declaration of the SIX United Provinces of Kenya
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9:04
From: Memories, Sentiments, Rants and Raves
Read This Entry & More At Memories, Sentiments, Rants and Raves
-Brought on by "In a Sentimental Mood- John Coltrane & Duke Ellington."
Love, these four letters have brought more people together as much as split them. I know Valentine's over but i got to thinking after all this time shouldn't i at least know enough about love. My dad says "there is no love expert". No matter how long or many you love, each person is different. I keep thinking like with work experience, shouldn’t you be able to say what you can and can’t do plus what you are willing to learn on the job. Love, lust, passion, romance, sex all these are just what they are love, lust, passion, romance and sex, each individual has their own “formula” for satisfaction. It is one thing to fall in love another to stay in love which would explain “I love him but am not in love with him”. Funny how when we are in love our tolerance for that person suddenly increases and we are often willing to compromise.
Heard about a lady whose honeymoon was without “bumping uglies” and she was wondering whether it was a sign of trouble ahead. So, when did sex and love become justification for the other? The reason given was maybe because they we already “bumping” prior to the nuptials then maybe that’s why. That brings me to the belief that familiarity causes people to take things for granted. For some people seems that the longer you are together the lazier you both are to explore possibilities until its just routine. Then instead of staying because you are happy you count the number of years you been together, still easier said than done.
At the end of each relationship/relation/fling/clande/arrangement you name it we all have a list of lessons learnt that we swear by with greater emphasis on the dont's. Sadly it only gets complicated with age, clearly this is one area where practice just wont make perfect. I figure the goal is to be true to yourself and have a good time else for me its just not worth it.
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7:46
From: Kenyanentrepreneur.com
Read This Entry & More At Kenyanentrepreneur.com
There’s an interesting profile on Barack Obama in this month’s Vanity Fair Magazine. Check it out here.
The question for me is, can he beat John Mccain in November. I’m rarely if ever inspired by politicians speeches. As a voter, I just want my side to win. And, and, and…..
I’m not sure if he can beat [...]
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6:53
From: Mshairi
Read This Entry & More At Mshairi
Moved on
Did you think I would languish
Heartsick and broken
When you said it was all over
You needed to move on
Did you think I would bore my friends
With tales of you
On the telephone all the time
When you said I was cramping your style
Holding you back
Did you think I would curl up and die
Listen to Billie Holliday
All day [...]
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6:50
From: You Missed This
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As Maina Kiai Goes Underground Nobel Peace laureate Wangari Maathai has today revealed that she has received death threats for reasons she thinks are linked to her condemnation of the results of the December 2007 general elections and strong support for the Annan peace mission. Maathai, a world renowned environmentalist and a veteran of the Kenya civil society movement, said she reported the matter to police after getting three text messages on her telephone on Tuesday (yesterday). One of the texts read: "Because of your opposing the government at all times ... we have decided to look for your head very soon," said one of the messages she read to reporters. She appealed to the government to restore bodyguards whom she says it recently recalled. Wangari Maathai was interviewed on Citizen FM Radio this morning and was widely critical of the PNU regime. She attributed current problems in Kenya to the failed NARC (MOU) dream and the failure to pass the Bomas Draft Constitution. Meanwhile, KNHC Chairman Maina Kiai has gone underground after highly successful trip to United Kingdom and USA where he and former nominated MP Njoki Ndungu made presentations to the United States Congressional Hearing on the Kenyan Crisis held in Washington D.C on Feb 6, 2008. Kiai and Ndungu are deemed to have upstaged the VP Kalonzo Musyoka who undertook a similar itinerary and also embarrassed the PNU government. Because of their ethnic origin, supporters aligned to PNU are considering the two as enemies. The latest African Intelligence Newsletter reports in an article titled "Maina Kiai under the eye of the NSIS" that The National Security Intelligence Service is taking a close interest in the international trip of the head of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR). According to information obtained in Nairobi from various sources, the National Security Intelligence Service (NSIS) has begun to investigate the activity of Maina Kiai, the head of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR), during his travels to the United Kingdom and the United States. The NSIS is trying to list all the people he has met and find out whether he wants to request political asylum. The NSIS began to take an interest following the meeting last week between Maina Kiai and Mark Malloch-Brown, the British Minister of State with responsibility for Africa. During this meeting, Maina handed Malloch-Brown a report on the recent events in Kenya. Their discussion is also believed to have concerned identifying the Kenyan personalities who incited to violence or participated in election fraud. The NSIS consequently wants to know who prepared the meeting between Kiai and Lord Malloch-Brown. It also wants to know whether Kiai is likely to become a new John Githongo, the former Kenyan anti-corruption czar who became highly unpopular among the supporters of President Mwai Kibaki when he denounced corruption within the Kenyan government team from his exile in the United Kingdom. Some members of the Kenyan government were also perturbed by the fact that Malloch-Brown’s meeting with Kiai took place just before his meeting with Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka. Among the Kenyan executive circles, Kiai is seen as having sold out and a traitor to his Kikuyu community, the same as Kibaki’s. Matters got worse after Kiai’s speech to the Sub Committee on Africa & Global Health of the United States House of Representatives on February 6th, and his subsequent call this week in which he asked the US to suspend military aid to Kenya. This added even more to the impression held among Kibaki’s partisans that Kiai in fact supports the ODM (opposition). The NSIS then began to investigate his international contacts in order to evaluate the real impact of his stance in the US and the UK.(end) If the aforegoing is anything to go by it means Mungiki have powerful members within the PNU and that the recent arrest of 37 adherents administering oath was no fluke. It will be recalled that in early January, members of the civil society made reports to the Kilimani Police Crimes office alleging that they had received reliable information that the personal safety and security of its members, including Maina Kiai, was at serious risk and that a special unit had been officially formed to consider “methods of neutralisation” of the these civil right activists. More recently an anonymous pamphlet has found its way in parts of Central Province and Nairobi where, it was instructively noted that the death threats have been issued against civil rights activists who are considered “traitors” to their ethnicity (Kikuyu), because they have spoken out about what they believe to have been irregularities in the election result, or about human rights abuses committed by the police and armed gangs, including gangs of Kikuyu people, throughout the country. The pamphlet includes Maina Kiai as part of a list of more 25 people of Kikuyu origin, who it calls “traitors (who) live among us in peace”, and included a veiled threat that they should be killed.
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6:47
From: bankelele
Read This Entry & More At bankelele
IFC funds D-Trust diversification: Diamond Trust Bank will get a $45 million (Kshs. 3.2 billion) loan from the Investment Finance Corporation this year: a subordinated loan of $15 million; and $30 million for housing finance, on lending to SMEs, consumer financing, education/student loans, health-care, and agribusiness financing. (Note: I own shares in Diamond Trust)Super Barclays: Barclays Kenya is the first bank to announce ‘its profits for 2007. They are up about 7% from the subdued profit of Kshs. 7 billion ($100 million), but the profits of Barclays makes in African Countries mean that the units are too expensive for Absa From the Blogs- Local TV leader KTN follows NTV by expanding into Uganda- Just how free is free secondary education? - Inflation update: One common item I missed in inflation tracker is Chips (French fries). They are a popular Nairobi meal that’s cheap, and filling, often goes well with a ¼ chicken from Kenchic. But the price of chips has shot up in the post election period – from 20- 30 shillings ($0.4) for a pack/plate, to abut Kshs. 50 – 60 ($0.85) at the same Kenchic joints. The price of cooking oil has also gone up by about 30 – 40% in supermarkets – which may be contribute, as would the availability of potatoes which were produced in clash-hit areas.
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6:39
From: What An African Woman Thinks
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He got me with “Dreams From My Father.” It was hard to believe the parts about Kenya were written by someone who’d not been brought up in Kenya. So authentic. Neither raw nor overdone. Just right. I loved him then. And then, "Audacity of Hope" sealed the deal. I like.
Last June, I remember being in a car in Johannesburg, driving from point A to point B. There were four of us, from four different countries, two Africans two non-Africans. From a discussion on the global economic climate, we segued into a discussion about who could would might be the next US President. Hillary Clinton got a fair amount of airtime. We tossed pluses and minuses back and forth. Rudi Giulliani also came under scrutiny. I attempted to insert Barack Obama into the conversation. Everybody laughed. I mean, chortled. Nobody else in the car thought he was worth considering.
In the next couple of weeks, at least three of us will get together again. I can’t wait.
Also, I’m ‘up to here’ with Kenya. Enough. I’m off to bury my head in the sand. DO NOT DISTURB.
Just one more thing: ahem, has anyone else noticed that drought has checked in? Mom told me some weeks ago the harvest was very poor this year, and that set off the first warning bells for me. But of course there's plenty of news jostling for mind space so I stashed that away absentmindedly. Then yesterday, there were cattle being herded along Mbagathi Way. That's usually a sign that there's trouble in the land.It's my window, but I don't own the view.
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5:15
From: Me, Life & Everything
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1415 | medium | sad | work | pure intuition - shakira
With new robotics technology recently making great advances and getting miniaturised, the better toys become, and more life like too. I have watched this video so many times i believe i am the one contributing the largest volume of hits on the page. I [...]
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4:45
From: REBECCA WANJIKU'S BLOG
Read This Entry & More At REBECCA WANJIKU'S BLOG
 woman in red bike tanz Originally uploaded by phat_controller On the way to one remote hospital, Tony spotted this mama and was very amused.
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4:41
From: REBECCA WANJIKU'S BLOG
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 gladys flying3 Originally uploaded by phat_controller There is nothing that scared Gladys as turbulence in the small plane. During turns, and those times that it hit the clouds, we all looked at Gladys to see her facial expression.
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4:38
From: REBECCA WANJIKU'S BLOG
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 gladys amref plane Originally uploaded by phat_controller Gladys demonstrates the reality of the "village" pose as we gunned to outdo each other. With this pix, we can actually prove that we have touched a plane. Mtajua aje? Gladys has committed her time to improving access to computers and other pieces of technology that make it better for us to get quality life.
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4:33
From: REBECCA WANJIKU'S BLOG
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 becky plane1 Originally uploaded by phat_controller I knew that planes can land on murram roads but I did not know that they land on grass. Ofcourse the grip would be affected if it rains. This was in Bukoba. Its such a nice, green place and I had to show off my primary/ high school photo pose.
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4:27
From: REBECCA WANJIKU'S BLOG
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 becky4 Originally uploaded by phat_controller I sat at the Lake Victoria beach waiting for sunset.
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4:26
From: REBECCA WANJIKU'S BLOG
Read This Entry & More At REBECCA WANJIKU'S BLOG
 becky flag1 Originally uploaded by phat_controller First stop was in Mwanza, we could not take off because of bad weather, but we did the following day.
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4:23
From: REBECCA WANJIKU'S BLOG
Read This Entry & More At REBECCA WANJIKU'S BLOG
 becky flying1 Originally uploaded by phat_controller From the grin, it looks like it was my first time on the plane. But again, I dont show my teeth often. We were on our way to Northern Tanzania to witness how telemedicine is changing people's lives. Medical help has become more accessible to the poor. These are baby steps but even the longest journey started with a single step. For Computer Aid and AMREF, the journey has just began. There are about 160 rural hospitals that expect to enjoy the facilities. I will help tell the story to the world.
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4:11
From: Eyes on Kenya
Read This Entry & More At Eyes on Kenya
According to Standard : There could be (could have been) a real possibility, that the two rival groups are edging closer to a power sharing deal, understood to be the creation of the office of a Prime Minister and two deputies, even as the Presidency and the Vice Presidency are retained.
However, this seemingly positive development was overshadowed by statements by President Kibaki and Party of National Unity MPs and ministers, who appeared to pour cold water on real power sharing.
“It can’t be an illusion, power sharing must be real,” US Secretary of State Condeleezza Rice on Monday told PNU and ODM — the two protagonists in the disputed and discredited presidential election.
PNU opposed to PM Post
But on Tuesday, Government negotiators and MPs attending a PNU Parliamentary Group meeting fought the proposed power sharing and pushed for “accommodating or co-opting” ODM into Government. The MPs and President Kibaki appeared to speak in one voice as they argued against a quick power-sharing deal as pressed for by Rice in Nairobi.
The Government insisted that any deal must be worked out within the current Constitution, and any other arrangement would have to follow later through constitutional reforms.
It was understood that the Government side is set with its position to accommodate ODM into Government as opposed to an ODM proposal that wants a split of Cabinet positions and the creation of the post of an executive prime minister.
Lead negotiator, Kofi Annan, left the Serena Hotel in the heat of the stand-off and went to Harambee House mid afternoon for a scheduled meeting with President Kibaki. After President Kibaki’s meeting with Annan, State House issued a statement which avoided the mention of ‘power-sharing’ but which only said the President had assured Annan that he was ready to “share responsibilities” with ODM.
The President, however, cautioned that any political solution that will be proposed must be in tandem with the current Kenyan Constitution,” part of the PPS statement read.
Conclusion
It seems Kibaki is up in arms with manipulation as he did post-2002 elections when he refused to honour NARC’s memorandum of understanding. Whenever I listen to him speak about “ any deal must be worked out within the current Constitution, and any other arrangement would have to follow later through constitutional reforms” my hackles rise because there will never be constitutional reforms under Kibaki. To swallow this again from him would be like getting kicked in the face once an turning the other side for another kick while still lying on the ground.
I echo Rice’s statement that power-sharing cannot be an illusion, it must be real.
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1:28
From: You Missed This
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Kumekucha Exclusive: Why Has ODM's Salim Lone Fled Kenya?Some very strange events took place yesterday in Nairobi. Kofi Anan went into a meeting with Mwai Kibaki at the president’s office at Harambee house. When they emerged from the meeting it was announced that President Kibaki had completely rejected the power sharing idea floated by the International community to end the political crisis in Kenya. Everybody seems to have missed that very significant development. Except the razor sharp alert KTN and Standard group folks. Daily Nation which has been carrying some disturbingly bizarre headlines, packaged the news differently and the headline is about Kibaki’s proposals to end the polls crisis. More on why the Nation are behaving the way they are, later in this post. The significance of this news is that Mwai Kibaki has trashed what the entire International community is saying. The Americans are rich guys but one wonders what was the point of Condi Rice, burning jet fuel all the way to Nairobi to deliver a message that has been totally rejected. But even stranger was the reaction of ODM. The silence of the party was deafening. In fact over the last few days ODM has said very little. Why? One theory is that the party... Read more
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1:24
From: You Missed This
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Waiting for peace can be a terribly frustrating and agonizing thing, as Kenyans have now seen for themselves.
My suggestion is that Kenyans must now focus on the future.
Imagine for a moment that you were some nice lady about to give birth. The birth pangs will already be going through your body. I am not a woman but I can imagine that searing pain is almost unbearable because I have been to a labour ward.
The business of bringing a new life to this world is not fun. There is the blood. Actually too much blood. Then in most cases the mother passes feces just as the baby starts to come and there are many other gory details that cannot be discussed in this blog with a family readership.
The thing to do then is to focus on the future. To imagine oneself at the end of the process holding the cute bouncing baby boy or baby girl in your arms and crying tears of joy.
That is exactly where Kenya is now; the terrible birth pangs have started and we have no idea how long they will last.
We need to start focusing on the future when all this mess is over.
What kind of constitution do we want? For starters we will need to use legislation to ensure that what has happened, never happens again.
I am informed that at one point during one of the Milton Obote regimes, the Ugandan parliament was about to pass a law to ensure that no MP would be allowed to represent his own tribe. That meant that to stand for a parliamentary seat, you would have to come from a different province from the one where the constituency was based.
I believe that such an idea can work beautifully for Kenya, with a little fine tuning here and there to ensure that people do not import voters en masse from their own community to where they are standing for a parliamentary seat.
These are the kind of ideas (we need to think out of the box) that I look forward to discussing with you, my dear readers over the next few weeks.
But above all, we must start by using this opportunity to kick out all the current political dinosaurs. For the next election, anybody who has ever held public office should be automatically disqualified from running. And that includes the presidency. For better or for worse, we need a brand new fresh start.
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1:19
From: You Missed This
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Events of the last few weeks have proved to me that Kumekucha has some very powerful enemies out there. These unseen characters who are all pro-PNU are pulling all sorts of stunts and playing all kinds of dirty games to mess up things.
Apart from posting long irrelevant comments to dull the effect of discussions here. These characters have also been very busy ensuring that Sam Okello and Marianne Brinner remain bitter enemies.
Both these two parties know too much about Kenya.
I have established that neither parties are in any way responsible for the mischief that has been going on here. But already Kumekucha enemies have made sure that the damage is already done. Sample these two email messages I received on the same day from both articles;
Dear Chris,
since I have stopped reading any comments in Kumekucha since some time now, I did not realize that there was a new campaign against me going on - orchestrated obviously by the Okellos.
I wish to state that I never sent any comments nor under my name nor under any other name or as anon - this is just a big campaign by these people using even Jeff Koinange for having asked them to 'help' him.
I also did not publish anything about the book Her Excellency nor any chapters of it - it is done by these people themselves. Don't let them cheat you.
Maybe you can publish this so this whole thing is clarified once and for all.
I think that Kenya has other urgent things to attend to than to have to read the rubbish these people have in their heads (empty air).
Marianne.
----------------------
Dear Chris,
Marianne Briner is at it again. She is trying to put contents of my book and advertising my book on the comments section on your blog.
I request that you delete comments regarding advertising this book. These are from Marianne Briner. She continues to fight me.
warmly,
Sam Okello
President & CEO
Sahel Books Inc.
This is just one example of what the enemy is up to.
I take this opportunity to warn Kumekucha readers to be extremely careful and alert.
I have taken every precaution myself and for example we have our main writers scattered all over the world so that we are sure whatever happens the blog will be active with people making posts.
Then we also have our brand new chat site where in case of anything readers can go and ask around. I intend to hold a special discussion session at the chat forum very soon where I will invite a sympathetic insider to tell us what is really going on in the corridors of power.
Read the complete article at
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